What's To Gain From A Zombie Apocalypse?
by pinkmmlover
Summary: Rochelle: Will you tolerate these zombies just a little longer...for me? Nick: I'll tolerate these zombies...just so i can be with you...
1. Dark Carnival

**Disclaimer: I did not create Left 4 Dead 2, or it's contents, I just own a copy of the game and this story.**

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Chapter 1: Dark Carnival- The Highway

"Be careful going down this hill now." But even with Coach's warning, they all nearly tumbled down the hill. Ellis had somehow managed to trip over his own feet and ended up rolling down the hill screaming, though no one could really tell if he was screaming in joy or terror.

"Whoa, Shit!!!" Nick was holding onto a branch so he wouldn't go speeding down, but the branch gave way and he started running down. When he got to the bottom of the hill, he tried to halt himself so that he wouldn't go running into the water. Amazingly, he was able to stop. _Phew, my shoes are still dry_. He thought to himself.

"Look out!!!" Rochelle cried. He looked up just in time to see Rochelle sliding down the hill at an abnormally fast pace. She closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever she was about to crash into. Nick opened his arms out toward her and she slid right into him. They stumbled backwards from the impact until they both regained their composure.

"Are you okay?" He asked after releasing her from his grasp.

"Yea, I'm good. No broken bones." She said dusting herself off. She winced shortly after touching her left arm. She looked at her arm and realized she had a cut, probably from one of the branches that brushed against her as she was sliding down. It wasn't a big cut, but it also wasn't a small one either.

"Are you sure, I mean, that was a pretty nasty fall." He urged, grabbing her arm so he could get a better look at her cut.

"Yes Nick I'm fine." She assured pulling her arm out of his grasp. She realized that sounded a little harsh. "Trust me, I'm alright." She paused before she spoke again. "Thank you, for saving me I mean. And I'm sorry about getting your shoes wet too."

"Ah hell, they were gonna get wet anyway. No harm, no foul… besides, I have that affect on women."

She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"They can't keep their hands off me." He smirked.

She looked at him questionably. He looked at her, then he looked down, and back at her again. She looked down at what he was looking at and realized she was still holding his hands. Almost instantly, as if she had just burnt herself, she let go.

"Whatever." She said blushing feverishly.

Before Nick could get another chance to crack a joke, they heard the sound of Coach coming down the hill. Nick and Rochelle were unsure if he chose to slide that way, but Coach was sliding down the hill on his butt, as if he was going down a kiddie slide. The only difference between the two; children scream in excitement when they go down. When he got to the bottom, everyone rushed over to see if he was okay. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before speaking.

"I am… getting way too old…for this." He huffed.

"What, you mean this isn't your first zombie apocalypse you lived through? Jesus Coach, you coulda told us this before." Nick said wittily. Coach shot him daggers.

"Come on y'all, I reckon we keep going right, and then there should be another hill we can climb to get to the Whisperin Oaks Amusement Park entrance. And from there, well, we'll figure it out when we get there." Ellis said.

"Definitely, getting too old for this…" Coach said at the thought of more hills.

* * *

Dark Carnival- The Fairgrounds

"We better look around, maybe there are some supplies around here somewhere." Rochelle told the guys.

"Girl's got point, but be cautious now. Chances are there's gonna be zombies roaming around too, so don't go too far."

She looked out the window of the safe house at the deserted amusement park. She was supposed to be covering a story on the outbreak, and yet here she was at an abandoned amusement park fending off zombies with a machete and machine gun. What could she possibly have done to deserve this!?

After restocking up on ammo and changing guns, they headed out. Coach wasn't kidding, there were zombies everywhere! Wave after wave of zombies kept coming after them. After what seemed like an eternity they slowly died down.

"Well now that just sucks." Ellis remarked. "People come here for fun and entertainment and they wind up dead."

"Be happy it wasn't you." Rochelle commented.

"Amen to that." Coach said throwing a pipe bomb, getting rid of the last of the zombies.

"Personally I would rather be a zombie." Nick said reloading his shot gun. They all turned and looked at him. "What, they don't feel any pain, they're never hungry, and they only snap at you if you bother them. Hell, they don't even have to go to the bathroom. How much better can it get than that? And they definitely don't have to deal with other people complaining about fighting and what not."

"What unzipping yourself is too much work for you hot shot?" She asked slashing a zombie with her machete. He raised an eyebrow at her question. "I meant to go to the bathroom you perv." But she decided to play with his thoughts. "Man if that's the case, then we can tell who does all the work in bed now, can't we?" she said walking past him.

His eyes shot wide open from her statement. At the same moment, the pipe bomb Coach threw exploded destroying the last of the zombies. Ellis was trying hard to hide his laughter, but it wasn't working.

"Touché." Nick said slightly amused that this girl had a sense of humor that could throw him off. He found himself quite intrigued by her.

"All right now," Coach spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Now that the zombies are gone, it's time to look for supplies."

"Maybe there's something in the bathrooms. I know it sounds crazy, but it couldn't hurt to look right?" she thought out loud.

"Good idea Ro. Oh pardon me, I have to go." Ellis said rushing into the men's room.

"Okay, well that's one place I'm definitely avoiding." Rochelle said walking towards the women's bathroom.

Both Coach and Nick nodded, thinking the same thing.

As if luck were on her side for once, there were two bottles of pain pills sitting by the sink. Inside she realized she wasn't alone. She shined her flashlight on the other side of the bathroom and saw three zombie bodies lying in a corner. Normally she'd be grossed out by them, but there was something different about these zombies. These bodies weren't as zombified as the other ones, these ones were partially human-like, like an unfinished transformation.

_Looks like the disease was too much for them._ She thought. _Their bodies couldn't endure the transformation._

"Man, that sure is a sad sight." She heard from behind her. She didn't realize that Coach and Nick had followed her into the bathroom until now.

"What are you two doing in here?"

"Well you did say to check the bathrooms." Coach replied.

"Um guys, this is the ladies room." She stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me." Nick said walking out slightly uncomfortable with Coach following him.

"Hey wait." She called to them before they could take another step. She grabbed the pain pills off the counter and tossed the bottles to them. "I found these pills. You two can have them; you need them more than I do."

"Hey thanks."

"Yea, thanks Ro." Nick said before walking out.

Shortly after, she followed them out.

* * *

Dark Carnival- The Tunnel of Love, Part 1

"Oh man, that was a close one." Ellis said leaning against the safe room door.

"You're telling me. I was sure that Tank was gonna get us." Rochelle replied sitting next to him.

"Ok well not that I'm _not_ happy we're alive and all, but how the hell are we supposed to get out of here? We're stuck in the freaking Tunnel of Love for crying out loud." Nick said reloading his shot gun.

"Truth is, I think that we're gonna have to through the Tunnel of Love." Replied Coach. "I know you don't wanna Nick, but you're gonna have to if you wanna survive."

He weighed out his options. "Go through the Tunnel of Love and face a bunch of flesh-eating zombies, or stay here and die a slow, lonely death?" he thought aloud. "Eh, what the hell, I find better company with you guys than the zombies."

"Now that's the spirit." Coach said slapping him on the back.

"And besides," Ellis added. "The Tunnel of Love ain't that long. I reckon it's about 5 minutes by swan, and they don't move that fast."

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Dark Carnival- The Tunnel of Love, Part 2

But it wasn't that fast, the Tunnel of Love just didn't wanna end. To them, it felt like hours since they saw the outside world. And it seemed just as long because of the zombies that just so happened to be in there with them. Instead of treading through water, they were walking treading through zombie guts.

"Man, I don't remember the Tunnel of Love being this long." Coach said jumping down the hole in the maintenance room.

"No kidding, and I don't remember there being any Chargers, Hunters, or Smokers on the ride either." Ellis said light heartedly.

"Ha ha very funny Ellis." Rochelle remarked, but not in a sarcastic way.

"Hey y'know I heard a rumor that tunnels of love were supposed to be magical. Like they would make people more cheerful, or giving, or even reveal what kind of person they are. Or some shit like that."

"Well now, that would explain why Nick hasn't said a mean thing ever since we started walking through the Tunnel of Love." Coach joked.

"Know what Coach, I think you're onto something." Ellis chimed in.

"Ellis?"

"Yea Nick?"

"You and Coach are idiots." He said flatly.

"Why thank you Nick. See, the tunnel revealed how giving Nick is. Like before, he called me 'hick' or 'dumbshit', but now he calls me 'idiot'. And he even said something about Coach too."

"Boy," Coach said placing an arm on his shoulder. "You and I are going to have a long talk about this…" he trailed off as he and Ellis walked ahead of them.

Rochelle chuckled to herself. Never before had she seen someone so confused about this kind of stuff. She walked a few more steps before she felt someone grab her wrist.

"Ro." Nick said calmly.

She looked behind her and he placed a bottle of pills in her hand, the same pills that she had found earlier in the bathroom.

"You'll need this more than I do."

"Nick I'm fine, trust me." She tried to pull her hand away but he didn't let go.

"That gash on your arm says otherwise." He said looking down at her arm.

She had realized it, but that cut from before had gotten a little bigger than it was previously. It wasn't serious or anything, but it should still be taken care of.

"Here." Nick said pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket. As if reading her mind, he wrapped it securely around the cut. "Every time you lift your gun to fire," he spoke. "You flinch from the pain in your arm and it makes your shots a little off."

"You've been watching me very closely now, haven't you Nick?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Well don't get too excited now sweetheart." He retorted leaning in closer to her. "Call it studying." He said quietly as he finished up her wrapping. "You're welcome by the way." And with that, he walked ahead of her.

Rochelle watched him for a few seconds then looked at the bottle of pills in her hand. She gripped them slightly and smiled to herself.

"Yea, thanks." She said before catching u to the guys. Ellis was right; there really was something magical about tunnels of love.

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Preview of Chapter 2

Ellis: Did something happen between you two while we were gone?

Nick and Rochelle looked at each other, then back at Ellis.

"No" They both responded.

Ellis's eyes got bigger in surprise. "Oh I get it now." He said grinning. "Now I know why you're both acting this way. You both..."


	2. Swamp Fever

I'm so sorry for not updating in so long. I'm glad that most of you wrote what your favorite parts were in Chapter 1, that made me sooo happy. Most of that stuff i thought no one would care about. Proved me wrong =) anyway, i'm babbling. So here it is, chapter 2

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**Disclaimer: I did not create Left 4 Dead 2, or its contents, I just own a copy of the game and this story.**

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Chapter 2: Swamp Fever

"Get on the boat!! Get on the boat!!" Ellis was the first to reach the boat so he was covering everyone as they ran to the boat. Coach and Rochelle reached the boat next, and poor Nick had to practically roll onto the boat because Ellis pressed the button too early and the boat started to move away from the dock.

"That was…way too close y'all." Coach panted, sitting on one of the benches. Rochelle was sitting on one the bench perpendicular to his, and Nick was still lying on the ground trying to catch his breath. Ellis was the only one standing who didn't need to catch his breath.

"Listen up everybody." He said. They all looked up at him. "Be on the lookout for…Blood Farmers. I'm serious."

"What? Blood Farmers?" She asked skeptically. "Boy, what in the hell are you talking about?"

"Duh? Farmers that don't grow crops, they grow people, to eat." He said in a scary tone.

"Jesus Christ Ellis," Nick said sitting up. "Like the goddamn zombies aren't bad enough."

Rochelle grinned at his reaction. It sounded to her like he actually believed that crap, though it did seem pretty farfetched. Then again, they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Anything goes right?

* * *

Swamp Fever- The Plantation House

"SHOOT THE TANK!!! SHOOT IT!!! SHOOT IT!!!" Nick was yelling.

"WE'RE TRYING!!!" Rochelle yelled back.

At the plantation house, Nick and Rochelle were stationed on the second floor, Rochelle on the machine gun, while Coach and Ellis were on the ground trying to dodge the Tank and at the same time trying to throw a molotov at him. And just how did Coach and Ellis end up being the ones who had to do the job? It all started when the Tank fell through the roof of the second floor, separating Nick and Rochelle from Coach and Ellis. The Tank set his sights on the two of them and started chasing them downstairs into the front yard.

Coach had finally lighted the molotov and was running backwards so he could take aim at the Tank. When he thought he had a good shot at him, he launched it high in the air and it ended up smacking the Tank right in the middle of his face. The flames started spreading rapidly all over his body, making him stop slightly from the pain.

"Lite his ass on fire!!" Coach's voice boomed.

"That's great and all but now he's beginning to chase us again. RUN!!" screamed Ellis.

Just like Ellis said, he resumed chasing them, only this time he was much faster. The Tank raised a fiery arm in the air and slammed it down knocking both Coach and Ellis off their feet for a moment.

Rochelle was trying to chase down the Tank, hoping that her shots would distract it for a while so they could make their escape, but because the gun couldn't turn all the way she had to start shooting it with her assault rifle.

_Why won't you just die already? _Rochelle thought to herself as she blasted more bullets into its back.

"Rochelle look out!" she heard Nick say.

But it was too late. Just as she turned around, a Charger ran straight through the opening where the door used to be and rammed right into her, knocking them both off the second floor. Miraculously, and I do mean miraculously the Charger had let go of her as they fell off and she was able to cling on to the ledge.

"Help!!" she called to Nick who was finishing off the Charger.

"Yea yea I'm coming." He said walking toward her. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled, but for some reason she couldn't get up. He tried once more, but to no avail.

"What the hell, get your ass up here."

"Well I'd love to, but my belt keeps getting hooked on the ledge." She said slightly annoyed.

"We can do this without the sarcasm fireball." He stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Watch it, Nicholas." She warned.

All of a sudden the quaking from the ground got heavier. I mean they knew why already why it was quaking, but it was getting heavier and heavier as each second passed. Nick and Rochelle turned to see that the Tank had grown tired of chasing after Ellis and Coach. Its new target: them. That flaming hairless gorilla was headed straight for them!!

"Come on, come on get up!!" Nick said trying to pull her up. But with each tug, her arms felt heavier and each attempt to save her seemed more and more useless.

"It's no use. Just forget about me and save yourself!!" she cried frantically.

"I am NOT leaving you Rochelle. We- I need you a little bit longer." He said softly. She was at a loss of word at what he just said to her. She looked into his eyes and saw a tenderness that she never saw before in him. Nick looked away just in time and saw the Tank had begun crawling up the side of the plantation house.

"Shit, come on!" He wrapped his arms around her waist and lightly jerked her outward so that her belt wouldn't latch onto the ledge this time. Successfully, he was able to pull her up. They both quickly ran into the plantation house just as the Tank reached the second floor.

A person's body can only take an X amount of hits for so long before it grows tired and weak, and needs time to heal up. Unfortunately for them, that time was now. So many scratches and bruises can only take you so far before you collapse. And on top of that, they were now defenseless. No guns (she lost hers when the Charger charged her, and he dropped his so he could help her up), no gas, absolutely nothing they could use to give them a fighting chance. All they could do was stand there and wait for the beating. Nick clutched her closely, hoping that his body would absorb most of the hits for her. She in turn squeezed him tightly, keeping her eyes shut. The Tank raised one of his mighty fists in the air and was ready to attack, but at the last second, his fist loosened and he collapsed on the floor in front of them.

A few seconds passed (the only sound coming from their hearts beating fast), before Nick broke the silence.

"Are- are you alright?" his question came out quieter than expected.

"Yea, I'm okay." She said, her too almost whispering.

It was up until now that they realized they were still holding onto each other. His right arm was wrapped securely around her shoulders while his other arm was hugging her waist. Her right hand was clutching his bicep as her left hand was resting on the back of his neck. They looked up at each other, then down at the position they were in, and almost instantly let go.

"Um, sorry about that." Nick said turning away, scratching the back of his head.

"Yea, I know." She replied turning the other way. "I have that effect on men, they can't keep their hands off of me." She joked. This brought a smile to Nick's face.

"Ahem." They turned around and realized that coach and Ellis were standing right behind them.

"Are you two alright?" coach asked.

"Yea, were alright." Nick responded. "And you two?"

"Yea, it's all good." He said smiling.

Ellis eyed Nick for a bit, and then Rochelle. Something seemed off between the two, and he wanted to find out what.

"What's up with you two?" He asked them.

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"You two seem a little uneasy about something. Did something happen between you guys while we were gone?"

They looked at each other, and then back at Ellis.

"No." they responded at the same time.

Ellis eyed them a bit longer, and then his eyes got wider in shock.

"Oh I get it now." He said grinning. "I know why you two are acting like this."

Rochelle's eyes got bigger while Nick looked as if he was about to deny anything Ellis was going to say.

"You're both scared, aren't you?" He declared, crossing his arms over his chest.

They looked at him dumb-founded, trying to decide whether or not to lie and agree with him, but they never got the chance to.

"Aw shucks, it's alright. As long as I got this…" he tossed his shot gun into the air and cocked it when came down into his hand. "then there ain't nothing to worry about."

"Come on y'all, that Virgil guy is here. Let's go before another horde comes." Coach told them.

They all nodded in agreement and rushed out of the Plantation House with Ellis leading them, followed by Nick and Rochelle, and then finally Coach who was bring up the rear. They had gotten to the boat just in time, the horde was literally pouring off the walkway.

On the boat, which Virgil named it Lagniappe, after the gang had a chance to catch their breath, Ellis went to go chat it up with Virgil, and Coach went to go find something to eat, leaving Nick and Rochelle al alone on deck. Rochelle was reloading her rifle that she picked up as they were running to the docks, while Nick was looking out on the horizon diligently, as if an attack was about to happen at any moment.

"You okay?" she asked walking up and standing right beside him.

"I should be asking you the same thing. You were the one who was almost killed."

"Almost is the keyword. If it weren't for you I would've been killed."

"Yea well don't get used to it. I'm not always gonna be nearby all the time, and I'm pretty sure Coach and Ellis don't come close to doing a better job than I do."

This made her chuckle a bit.

"Point taken." She turned away to go see what Coach was up to, but stopped and turned back to him. "Thanks by the way. I know my 'thank you' doesn't mean a lot to you, but I really do mean it."

She placed a hand on his shoulder for support and leaned up to kiss his cheek. As she walked away, Nick reached up where to where she kissed him, and a small smile crept upon his face.

* * *

Thanks for reading this, and bearing with me. Personally I had more fun with Chapter 1, but hey, you're the reader. Anyway the next Chapter might take a while, on a count of the chapter not being fully done yet.

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Preview of Chapter 3

Rochelle: But you just told Ellis we weren't gonna hold hands.

Nick: Correction, I told Ellis I wasn't gonna hold his hand, I didn't say anything about yours.

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Use your imagination =)


	3. Hard Rain

Hard Rain- Mill Escape

"Stay close everybody, we don't need any of y'all getting lost now." Coach said stepping out of the gas station diner. "All's we gotta do is head back the way we came, which is right through the field."

"Hey you know I was just thinking," Ellis said picking up a combat shotgun. "when my mother used to go grocery shopping in the rainy weather, and she would take me along with her, she would hold my hand just so she wouldn't lose me. So I got this idea that maybe if we don't wanna get lost then we should-"

"I am NOT going to hold your hand Ellis." Nick said firmly as he swiped through the tall grass with a machete.

"Okay." He wasn't affected much on a count of everyone cutting him off when he told stories of his friend Keith.

Nick looked behind him and saw Rochelle struggling to find her balance of carrying the heavy gas can on her back while holding an assault rifle. He stifled a laugh. At the rate she was going at, she had a better chance of survival staying at the gas station. He did have to admit though, she was kind of cute when she was struggling.

Being the "gentleman" that he was, he took the rifle off her hands, and grabbed one of her hands, leading her through the field.

"Okay, what the hell are you doing?" she asked as she finally stepped into the field.

"We can't have you lagging behind, so I relieved you of your gun so you can move a little faster."

"That's not what I meant." She said as if she didn't hear what he just said about her. "What I mean is why are you holding my hand?"

"Because without a weapon in your hand, you're pretty much useless." Rochelle made a face at him. "What I mean is, those damn zombies will come after you and then you'll be separated from us. And if that happens, then it'll take us forever to find you. Thus, I am holding your hand."

"But you just told Ellis we weren't going to hold hands." She said as she stepped over the pipe.

"Correction: I told Ellis I wasn't going to hold _his_ hand; I didn't say anything about _not_ holding yours." He swung his machete again to clear a path. "Besides, who better to protect you than me?" He added with a grin.

"Yea whatever." She said rolling her eyes. "Or is there some other reason why you want to hold my hand so badly?" She nudged playfully.

"Oh Rochelle I'm so in love with you but I don't know how to say it so I came up with some stupid excuse just so I could hold your hand." He said whimsically. "Does that sound better?"

"It sounds more believable." She said cracking up.

They both burst into laughter. After a minute or two, they regained their composure, Nick was the first to speak.

"Let's catch up to them; they must be wondering where the heck we are right now."

And hand in hand, they rushed to catch up with Coach and Ellis at the elevator.

* * *

Hard Rain- Town Escape

"S' everybody ready, imma signal Virgil in a bit?" Ellis asked, preparing to turn on the Burger Tank sign.

As soon as Coach finished patching himself up and grabbed a bile jar off the counter, he gave Ellis the 'thumbs up' sign to turn it on.

Not long after, a massive horde of zombies came running toward them. Tons and tons bullets were flying everywhere, it was like a war zone. Ellis's auto shotgun ran out of bullets so he had to destroy the rest of them with his katana. There were a few incidents with Spitters and Smokers pulling and spitting some of them off the roof, but other than that, it was under control. After a hundred-something zombies passing through and one very pissed off Tank, the chaos died down and all went quiet for a moment. Nick was downstairs reloading his sniper rifle while the others were on the roof covering him and making sure nothing was heading their way. Ellis and Rochelle were near the edge of the roof, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"Well I'll be damned," Ellis sighed wiping either sweat of rain drops off his forehead. "We actually lasted. Oh man, wait till Keith hears about this. He'll be so jealous, his pants'll-"

"Ellis, Rochelle, watch out!" Coach called to them.

They both turned around to see a Hunter -just missing Coach by an inch– heading their way. Thinking quickly –and not letting Rochelle taking another hit again– he pushed her out of the way right before the Hunter landed on him, the force from the impact causing them to fall off the roof. Ellis, not realizing how strong he was, accidentally shoved her a little too hard and she stumbled backwards and slipped off the roof. When she slips off the roof, her foot lands under her and she sprains it in the process.

"I'm down!" She cried.

"Hang on Ro, I'll getcha." Coach said climbing down the ladder.

Nick came out of the Burger Tank, shooting at the Hunter clawing away at Ellis' chest and face. After shooting the hell out of it, he helped Ellis to his feet.

"You okay Ro?" Coach asked.

"Yea, just a sprained leg." She said patting her leg on the side.

"Let Doctor Nick fix you up." He said bending down to look at her leg.

"No, no it's fine, really." She assured him, pulling him back to his feet. "Just help me get to the dock."

She slid her arm over Nick's shoulder as he moved _his_ arm around her waist to support her.

Carefully and steadily, he led her through the Burger Tank trying not to cause any strain on her leg. That's when they heard it. A deep roar. The same roar that caused them to run almost eighty percent of the time. The same roar that gave them more than half of their injuries so far. The roar… of a Tank.

"Shit!" Nick cursed. "Coach, switch your bile jar for my pipe bomb." He said tossing his explosive to him for a more, _grotesque_ one. "Ellis, you and Coach take Rochelle to the dock." He said removing her arm from his shoulders. "I'll see if I can buy you guys some time."

"What, Nick that's just crazy." Ellis said, adjusting her arm on his shoulder.

"If you don't see me running for the dock in two minutes," he said looking at all of them. "Tell Virgil to leave without me."

"Nicholas, NO. We are NOT abandoning you." Coach said sternly.

"Just do it alright?" He said as he was about to take off, but a pair of arms was holding him back.

"Nick, please?" Rochelle begged, grasping his arm tighter.

He placed a hand on hers and looked into her eyes.

"Promise me." He said gently.

As much as it pained her, she agreed to his nonsense request.

"Yes." She responded softly, looking away. He pulled his arm out of her grasp and took off.

He ran back through the Burger Tank and out into the open, trying to find a way to stall it as long as possible. So far there was no sign of it actually coming, only the sound of its roar. But from where it was coming from, Nick was unsure of.

"So, you wanna play the screaming game," Nick thought aloud. "I'll play the screaming game too." Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth and bellowed, "COME AND GET ME YOU GIANT MUTATED HUNCHBACK!"

After his little provocative moment, all went quiet around him. The rain had calmed down a little bit, and the Tank had stopped yelling as well. For a few seconds, Nick had relaxed a little too. But a second later he heard the ground being crumbled somewhere off in the distance. The next thing he knew, a large chunk of pavement was zooming past him, just missing him by a couple of inches. He looked over to where they climbed over the fence to get to the Gas Station and saw that the Tank had finally made its presence known to him. It stood there for a while, sizing its target up before finally charging at Nick. Lady Luck was definitely NOT on his side today, because right behind the Tank was another horde of zombies heading his way.

"Oh that's just great. Real freaking great!" he complained to no one in particular.

But he was ready for them. He was more grateful now than ever that he traded the pipe bomb for a bile jar earlier. All he had to do now was time his shot carefully, and then make a run back to the docks.

A moment later, he heard the sound of the Lagniappe's horn blaring behind him. Immediately, the horde turned its attention to where the sound was coming from, rather than him himself.

_Aw Shit!_ He thought to himself. Thinking quickly, he launched the bile jar into the air, hitting its mark a few seconds later. Fortunately for the horde, it didn't hit them. _Unfortunately_ for the Tank, it did hit him.

"Bingo!" he said under his breath.

The horde quickly forgot about their other target and headed for the new one. They ran straight for him (The Tank), clawing and scratching at him, as if they were trying to dispose that awful stench. For a while it slowed him down, but soon he fought back, punching its way through to get to Nick.

Nick smiled to himself and ran back through the Burger Tank to catch up with his fellow teammates. "Pay back's a bitch you bastard!" he yelled behind him.

Back on the Lagniappe, the others waited anxiously for Nick's return, but none of them were as anxious as Rochelle was.

_Nick, where are you?_ She thought to herself.

"Ro sweetie, it's time to go." Coach said behind her.

"Please, just give him more time. He'll be here." She pleaded.

All of a sudden they heard a roar from a horde of zombies on the other side of the restaurant. And from the sound of it, they would be here any second.

"I'm sorry Ro, but we gotta take off. Pretty soon the whole place is gonna be flooded with zombies." Coach said.

Sadly, she agreed with Coach's decision.

"Hey wait guys here he comes!" Ellis shouted looking out toward the dock. They all turned to see Nick racing to the boat, followed by a bunch of zombies who were also racing to get to the boat.

"Nick, grab my hand." Coach said, holding out just as the Lagniappe pulled away from the dock. Nick reached the edge of the dock and leaped off stretching his hand as far as he could. He caught onto the side of the boat and had to hold on for dear life as the boat pulled away. Ellis and Coach reached over, grabbing at his jacket and pulling him aboard. He rolled onto the deck, stopping right at Rochelle's feet. He looked up into her face and she looked relieved that he was safe, but then her face had the look of annoyance in it and she limped slowly away from him, grasping the side of the boat for support.

"Oh man, we were sure you weren't coming back." Ellis said kneeling next to him as Nick was catching his breath. "Coach and I were worried about you, but not as much as Rochelle was though. She looked pretty upset when she thought we were gonna have to leave you behind."

Nick looked up to glance at Rochelle and saw her looking out in the distance, most likely trying to ignore his presence. He wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he swore he could see a tear on the side of her face.

"Come Ellis, let's leave Nick alone to catch his breath…" Coach said, putting a hand on Ellis' shoulder. "And maybe do some other things as well like talk to our other teammate." He said eyeing Nick and then Rochelle.

"Other teammate? Wait, so now Virgil's part of the team now too? Oh sweet!" Ellis said. He ran off to find Virgil and tell him the great news.

After another minute or two, Nick got up and walked over to where Rochelle was. He walked up behind her, trying to make his presence known, but to no avail, she just kept on ignoring him.

"So," he said after a while. "How are you doing?" he asked trying to make conversation.

She took one look at him, glared, and swung her arm at him. But he caught it just in time before she could whack him in the face.

"Are you insane?" He asked crossly, holding her arm just in case she tried to take another swing at him.

"I should be asking you the same thing you jerk!" She said snapping back at him. Turning around, she used her other arm to try and sock him in the gut, but he caught that as well, crossing her arms one over the other, lest she tried to pull her hand away before he could get a word out.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, pissed at her two attempts of sucker punching him.

"You're what's wrong with me!" She said staring fiercely back at him. He looked closely at her eyes, and saw hints of water peeking at the sides of her eyes.

"Rochelle," He said quietly, letting go of her arms. "What's the matter?"

Pulling her arms close to her chest, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before speaking again.

"Nick, are we or are we not some sort of team now?" She asked opening her eyes slowly.

"Well I suppose you could call us a team, mostly because we've been stuck together since CEDA left our asses behind on that burning building. And ever since then we've been trying to-"

"Just answer the damn question Nick!" She said sharply

"Alright, alright. I guess we _are_ some sort of team now. Though I have to say a strange one; a guy who calls himself 'Coach', a con man, a reporter and a-"

"And are you or are you _**not**_ a part of this team, or merely, do you want to be a part of this 'team'?" She asked emphasizing on the word 'team' and using her fingers to make quotations marks.

"Yes and…yes." He answered, still unsure of where this was going.

"Then as being part of a team, we have to make decisions together and we all have to agree on them." She said kindly. "When you went after that Tank to save us… to save me…I thought…I might never see you again."

"Rochelle…" He started to say, surprised at her sudden change in tone.

"If you didn't make it back to the docks in time just because of me, I could never forgive myself." She continued. "Your death would be on my hands and... I dunno if I could live with myself."

He smiled under his breath. _That's what all this is about? _"You think I'll let a few zombies get the best of me. Trust me, it'll take more than a mere hundred something zombies to make me drop dead."

"But…" She began to say, leaning against the boat.

"Look, bring a whole army of zombies to face me, it won't matter. I'll still be breathing after that little bout. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not going anywhere. Not without a fight at least." He chuckled.

"But still…" She looked away, unable to look at him any longer, considering the fact that he wasn't taking this seriously anymore. What did Nick think this was, a video game? That if he ended up dying at some point, he would magically reappear behind a bathroom door or something? Who did he think he was, God?

"Rochelle," He said tenderly touching her cheek, turning it back to him. "As long as Coach, and Ellis, and you, heh especially you, are still breathing, then I will be too."

She looked up into his eyes finally able to see him in a new light. She never noticed before, but Nick had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen so far. Gray, green maybe, it was hard to tell. Rochelle couldn't think of anything to say at the moment, but instead offered him a smile to which in turn he smiled back. He brushed him thumb lightly back and forth across her cheek until his thumb accidentally brushed against the corner of her mouth. He stared contentedly at her lips; her plump, rosy red lips. Leaning in slowly, he moved his face closer and closer to hers. His mind was telling him one thing, saying that this was neither the time nor place to do this, but his instinct was winning, taking full control over his body, inching his face gradually toward hers.

Rochelle was also unsure of what to do as well. Her thoughts were getting in the way with what was happening at the moment. They were telling her to do one thing but she was unable to respond.

_**Make him stop before this gets any farther…**_

His nose brushed up against hers

_**Tell him that this wasn't going to happen… **_

Her breathing became more and more unsteady as his face neared hers

_**Push him away…**_

She felt his warm breath against her skin, sending shivers up and down her spine

_**Take the plunge…**_

She gave in and leaned toward him, begging for his lips to touch hers

"Hey Nick, Rochelle, you guys gotta see this!" They heard Ellis yell up on deck.

They broke away immediately before anyone could notice their 'almost' little show of affection. Ellis was waving his hands in the air trying to get their attention.

"Check it out man, isn't it amazing?" He called to them.

They turned to see what he was looking at and saw what seemed to be a small glimmer of hope just out on the horizon. They reached their destination which turns out to be some sort of town where supposedly CEDA happens to be at the moment. And farther off into the distance, they could see a bridge heading from one end of the town to the other that looked pretty beat up, compared to the rest of the town.

"Well, I'll be damned, ain't that a beautiful sight." Coach remarked, looking at their final run of their adventure.

"Yes… she is." Nick replied softly, turning his head slightly to look at Rochelle, unbeknownst to her that he was staring at her. Slowly, he reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers together. She looked up at him, surprised at his show of affection, then smiled back at him. For the rest of the boat ride, they continued holding hands, while watching the beautiful sight in the horizon; a rainbow after the storm.

* * *

I know i took so damn, long. My bad, i didn't have internet for the longest time until now. Anyway so that's that, and I'll try not to take as long on the final chapter. Yes i said it... final chapter =( Oh, and while your waiting for it, here's a preview of the final chapter:

* * *

**Rochelle: **Nick, i never told you this until now, but..._

**Nick:** Jeez, it's about time you said it. Do you know how long I've waited to hear that.

**Rochelle:** You-you asshole! i can't believe i-

**Nick:** Just shut up and kiss me already!

* * *

OHHHHH juicy, juicy bits right there. Anyway, hopefully you won't have to wait as long as last time. See ya later!


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